Sonia Gandhi Alleges 'Sabotage', Government Says Winter Session Coming Up

New Delhi: Sonia Gandhi, whose nearly 19-year term as Congress president ends in weeks, today said Prime Minister Narendra Modi "lacks the courage to face parliament." Her allegation is based on the government's delaying of the winter session of parliament, which usually begins in November and runs four weeks. A few hours later, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley rebutted that the "winter session will definitely take place and the government will announce dates soon."

Because the Prime Minister and other top ministers are campaigning for the Gujarat elections in December, the year-end session of parliament has yet to be called.

The law is that parliament cannot go without meeting for longer than six months. Because the last monsoon session of parliament ended in August technically, the government need not organise another session till February.
 The Finance Minister said the government's actions are not suspect. "It has been a tradition and it has happened several times that parliament sessions are rescheduled when an election is happening," he said. Once the government decides on the schedule, MPs have to be given 15 days' notice for the session to begin.

Opponents like Mamata Banerjee and the Congress have said the government is ducking facing the opposition's questions over the economic slowdown that has registered after the twin reforms of demonetisation and the new national sales tax or GST.

"The Modi government in its arrogance has cast a dark shadow on India's parliamentary democracy by sabotaging the winter session of parliament on flimsy grounds," Mrs Gandhi said, adding "(it) is mistaken if it thinks that by locking the temple of democracy, it will escape constitutional accountability ahead of the assembly elections."

Mrs Gandhi is to be replaced as Congress chief in early December by her son, Rahul Gandhi, who is leading the party's attempt to reclaim Gujarat, which the BJP has held for 22 back-to-back years.